After four years of successfully battling rival UPN in
the race to endure as the No. 5 broadcast network, the
WB slipped into sixth place last season, its
viewership down 20 percent. Two factors figured in the
slide: A split from Chicago superstation WGN and its
viewers, and the whopping success of UPN's wrestling
series, "WWF Smackdown."

The network also expanded last season to a sixth night
of programming, a move CEO Jamie Kellner now calls "a
terrible mistake."

"We underestimated the effect of WGN," Kellner told TV
critics meeting in Pasadena, Calif., last month to
preview the fall season on network and cable. "We
would have been much better off if we had ... kept as
focused as we could on five nights." The WB still has
no programming on Saturday, and that "may be a place
we stay away from for quite a while."

Although "we didn't have a great season, which we
acknowledge," Kellner predicted better things for
2000-2001, based on what he called a strong season of
developing new series and the acquisition of two
established ones: Eddie Murphy's animated "The PJs,"
from Fox, and "Sabrina the Teenage Witch," from ABC.
And with a solid audience of younger viewers, the WB
was still able to command increased prices from
advertisers, noted Kellner, whose company, Acme
Communications, Inc., also owns KPLR in St. Louis, the
No. 1 station in the WB family. "We absolutely expect
we're going to see a return to the growth pattern" of
the first four seasons.

In other news and schmooze from Kellner and WB

Entertainment president Susanne Daniels:

"Sabrina" goes off to college this fall, and Soleil
Moon Frye ("Punky Brewster") joins the cast as Melissa
Joan Hart's roommate.

"Dawson's Creek" should be "the show to watch" in
the new season. Although the teen series had slipped
both in ratings and buzz, the season finale was as
much-watched as almost any episode since the premiere,
Daniels said, adding that "the romance between Josh
Jackson's character (Pacey) and Katie Holmes'
character (Joey) really seemed to rekindle and respark
a lot of interest."

"Roswell" will emphasize mysteries this season and
will feature more "closed-ended episodes."

"The Jamie Foxx Show" will end its run at midseason,
as Foxx develops a new variety show for the network.

"Dead Last," about a rock band that sees dead
people, is still in development, "and we think the
show is really promising," Daniels said.

The network will get into the reality game with "Pop
Stars," about the making of a Spice Girls-type band.
The series, based on an Australian show, will begin
with casting, set for September, and carry through the
making of the band's first album.

In programming for children, the WB finished the
season tied for first place with Nickelodeon. New kids
shows include "Jackie Chan Adventures," an animated
half-hour that features live-action segments with the
real martial arts expert; "Static Shock," featuring
"the first animated African-American teen superhero
ever to star in his own series"; "X-Men: Evolution";
and "Generation O," about an 8-year-old rock star.
Enough is enough, and after almost three weeks in a
suburban LA hotel, some writers - including this one -
bailed out before a half-day of presentations from
UPN.

By all accounts, only two moments stood out.

One, when president Dean Valentine announced that on
Jan. 1, UPN (currently the United Paramount Network)
would change its name to simply Paramount. (Now, how's
that going to fit in the listings?)

If you care: "United" stood for United Television,
owned by Chris-Craft, which was recently bought out by
Viacom, which owns Paramount. A bigger concern for St.
Louisans remains where to see UPN (or Paramount)
programs. Nominal affiliate KNLC still finds few of
the network's shows suitable for airing.

And two, when Valentine was asked about the pilot "I
Spike," which had female spies masquerading as
volleyball players.

Valentine's answer, as recorded in a transcript of the
press conference, was this: "I can't bring myself to
BS you. It was just bad."